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Info Absolution (Summary - List of stories) . The Wounded Hawk << previous act | Act 3 of 4 | next act >> The Simple Solution << previous chapter |''' Chapter 26 of 39 | next chapter >> << previous scene | '''Scene 1 of 2 | next scene >> Summary * Location: *Participants: *Time: *Summary: Text Cowlick grumbled under her breath as she tinkered with a tall, gleaming pillar of metal, several panels on it pulled open to reveal the complex insides: wires and crystals were both twinkling in the bright sunlight, and the engineer grumbled to herself and shook her head out quickly before looking down at the open notebook sitting on top of her toolbox, muttering as her eyes flicked over hastily-sketched schematics: "Looks like everything's in order..." She returned her eyes to the pillar, slamming the panel closed before nodding firmly and picking up a screwdriver. She began to tighten it closed, then groaned as the crystalline orb on top of the pillar lit up red, shouting: "You piece of junk, you couldn't go and have your little breakdown before I started closing your guts up?" She kicked the pillar bad-temperedly, then frowned after a moment, looking sharply up as the red glow around the orb intensified. The mare glanced back and forth, then gestured quickly at Rustproof, asking sharply as the young earth pony looked up from where he was complacently sitting nearby with a dandelion sandwich: "Hey, hey, do you remember what Greece said this thing was calibrated for?" "Four 'round Ponyville. Overlapping. Two or three kilometer radius to blanket the area." Rustproof replied slowly, lowering his half-eaten sandwich. "They light up when they detect heat signatures of a hundred and fifty Celsius or more. Experimental, 'cause Momma, you said-" "Yeah, yeah, I went over the reports we got about the infected with Celestia and Scarlet Sage, and we locked down that anything touched by Cancer's disease heats up like crazy. Bastard himself must run hot..." Cowlick frowned, then looked up at the pillar, asking sharply: "There any fires today? What about Burning Desire? He might set these sensors off. 'Cept the damn thing's getting brighter and brighter..." "Yeah, you might want to do something about that." remarked a voice, and Cowlick winced and stumbled to the side in surprise before she turned and stared in shock at the sight of a Draconequus in a purple, patchwork suit that was leaning on a cane and standing nearby as if he'd always been there. Cowlick's mouth worked stupidly before she looked over at Rustproof, but the large blue colt had returned to eating his sandwich, looking as if nothing was out of the ordinary as he only glanced curiously at Allonym. "High-range thermal scanners, though, that's a pretty cool idea. No... pun intended. Is that really a pun? I think that's a pun. Anyway, the point is that it always amazes me what-" Cowlick shouted a vulgarity, then flung her screwdriver at him, and Allonym cursed and flailed wildly as it bounced off his chest. "What the jumped-up jackassery are you doing here, and who the hell are you? No, wait, actually, I don't frigging care who the hell you are or who the hell you think you are, either tell me what the hell you're talking about or-" "I could write you out of existence!" Allonym threatened... and then Cowlick slung her toolbox open, sending her notebook flying and papers scattering before she yanked out several tools, flinging one of them at the Draconequus. Allonym let out a sharp 'ha!' as he managed to swing his cane out and block the little plastic screwdriver... but a moment later, the wrench that had been in Cowlick's other hoof smacked directly into his eye, and he staggered backwards with a yell of frustration, dropping his cane to grab at this. "Oh gods why do you stupid ponies insist on hurting me?" "Because we don't like being spied on by some patchwork puppet who's got his head crammed up his own ass!" Cowlick snapped, and then she dug in her toolkit before yanking out a knife, flicking it hard to the side to snap the sharp blade into position as she glared at him. "Now talk to me straight, 'cause I ain't as nice as Celestia or Antares, and if that tower ain't malfunctioning you better tell me what the hell is on the way." "I was just getting to that." Allonym muttered, rubbing slowly at his bruised eye before he wrinkled his snout. "You are the most monstrous little pony that ever... okay, okay!" Allonym hurriedly rose his hands when Cowlick made several violent stabbing gestures. "Overreact much?" "I haven't slept in three days, I've been out here working my flank off alone setting up all these scanners, and just as I think one is picking up something bad heading our way you show up, scare the hell out of me and my boy-" Rustproof was only finishing up his sandwich, calmly surveying the scene. "-and start making those little quips that Antares is always talking about! Hell, I didn't even realize you were real until... like... now." "If I pretend to be imaginary, will you put the knife away?" Allonym asked awkwardly, pointing carefully at the weapon, and Cowlick only looked moodily in return to the Draconequus before the chimerical creature cleared his throat. "Alright, alright. I came out here to warn you that... a nasty little something is on its way, yes. But it's not the big attack yet. I came here to tell you specifically, Cowlick, because Cancer's biggest interests in Ponyville are revenge... and getting into your lab facility." "My facility? What the hell do you mean, 'my facility?' How much do you know about that freak?" Cowlick asked sharply, then she frowned and stepped moodily forwards, flicking her knife closed even as she narrowed her eyes dangerously at the Draconequus. "And just how much do you know about me?" "More than I want to, on both counts." Allonym replied sourly, before he winced and rose his hands again when Cowlick glared at him. "You didn't really get older and wiser, did you? You just got older and angrier." Cowlick muttered under her breath, and then Rustproof asked curiously: "Is it 'cause of the poisons? He likes the poisons, right?" Allonym nodded as the mare engineer looked up in surprise... then frowned before nodding slowly, rubbing at her face as she muttered: "Of course. All those chemicals and everything stored in there, not to mention the locked-down hazmat vault... must tickle that monster's senses like a fine shot of whiskey. So he's on his way, is he? What do you mean, though, this ain't the big show?" The Draconequus hesitated, then he shook his head and said carefully: "I can't tell you too much. And more importantly, I shouldn't tell you too much. What I'm doing right here, right now, is just to try and give you a fighting chance. If I go telling you everything, it's going to-" He was cut off as Cowlick flung the thankfully-closed knife at his head, the Draconequus hurriedly ducking under it with a wince as the earth pony engineer snapped: "This ain't a game! Now cough it up, what do you know?" "I knew I should have stuck to talking to Antares. Look, I've already given you the warning, you figure out how to run with it." Allonym grumbled, and then he winced when Cowlick began to step forwards before the Draconequus hurriedly swung a loafer-clad foot out, slipping his toe just under the body of his cane and kicking it forwards. It flew upwards on an arc and smacked loudly into Cowlick's face, sending her stumbling backwards in surprise with a barrage of curses when it bounced off her head, and Allonym swiftly raised a hand as the cane flew back towards him to catch it. He spun the cane once at his side as he raised his other hand and tipped an invisible hat to the engineer, then simply vanished from sight as Cowlick lunged forwards. The mare cursed as she tackled only thin air, skidding through the grasses before grumbling moodily to herself. For a few moments, she only laid there as Rustproof calmly climbed to his hooves and strode over to glance down at his mother, and then the engineer looked up at her son meditatively and asked: "You got any cigarettes on you, kid? This is the one time I won't be mad at you if you do." Rustproof hesitated, then he nodded and reached into the front pocket of his overalls, pulling out a few rumpled smokes. Cowlick grumbled, snatching them away and shoving one into her mouth before Rustproof pulled out a box of wooden matches and calmly lit it for her. The mare leaned backwards as the young but enormous male shook the match quickly out and flicked it away, before Cowlick said thoughtfully through an exhale of smoke: "Okay. We got some useful info at least... and you know what? If Cancer's so attracted to our lab, maybe we should invite him on in. Maybe we should set us up a trap for that bastard; hell, let's make it a surprise party and invite all our friends." Rustproof only looked nervous as he pulled another cigarette out of his pocket, raising this to his mouth... and Cowlick absently reached up and yanked it away before tucking the cigarettes into the front pocket of her denim vest, nodding thoughtfully. "Just trust your Momma on this, Rusty, she knows her traps. Come on, you and me got some work to do, so let's get at things. Let's go find the others and warn 'em that we might got a bogey on the way." The young stallion nodded after a moment, then he headed back to his things as Cowlick turned to quickly toss her tools back into her toolkit, the enormous blue earth pony trying to push away the anxiety twisting and turning all throughout his stomach. Category:Transcript Category:Story